Myanmar
Now that Myanmar is opening up more to the rest of the world, it immediately seems to be becoming a tourist 'hotspot'. It's already hard to get one hotel room to find.
Moet Thailand fear developments in the neighboring country? Is Myamar going to hijack tourists in the region?
Undiscovered part of Asia
Travelers and investors flock to visit this previously undiscovered part of Asia. Consequences: the few hotels are overcrowded, room rates are doubled and airlines have to create waiting lists.
Now that the country is throwing off the yoke of military dictatorship and no longer a taboo for travellers, it looks set to become the number one tourist destination of 2012. Myanmar can make good use of the money the foreigners bring with them, but the country is struggling to manage the influx.
Adventurous travelers
At the same time, it must decide how far it wants to open its doors. Does it want to become a tourist-flooded country like Thailand or should it focus on smaller-scale tourism in order to keep its old culture and charm intact? Currently, Myanmar is the kind of place where adventurous travelers especially feel at home. It's a Buddhist wonderland with red-clad monks, cycle rickshaws and relics from the British colonial era. There are no Starbucks, McDonald's or western hotel chains, but that could change soon, in the worst case scenario.
Attract foreign investors
New laws make it easier for foreign hotel chains to do business in Myanmar. Authorities believe the country needs more restaurants to cater to international tastes, more car rental companies, more planes to transport tourists, more English-speaking guides, more of everything. “We especially need more hotels. We need big hotel chains,” said Kyi Kyi Aye, adviser to the National Tourist Board. He helps promote Myanmar abroad and attract foreign investors. “Tourism is growing fast and that means there are many obstacles to overcome.”
Travel agencies give the tips for those considering a visit to Myanmar, bring plenty of cash as the country has a cash-only economy. Credit cards are accepted almost nowhere. Leave cell phones at home as they don't work. Be prepared for sweltering and sweaty rides, as taxis are not air-conditioned.
Tourism grew 30%
In 2011, the number of tourists grew by almost thirty percent. That was still only about 816 thousand people, for comparison: nineteen million people visited Thailand that year. Yangon currently has XNUMX hotel rooms, of which only XNUMX are suitable for tourists, said Maung Maung Swe, vice president of the national tourism board. The hotels are overcrowded.
“The city needs to build more hotels quickly,” said Ram Nurani, manager of the Park Royal Hotel. The Strand, one of the colonial hotels where Rudyard Kipling and Somerset Maugham slept when the country was still called Burma, is also full. Rooms do from $550 per night. “We are already fully booked for the whole month. We try our best to transfer people to other hotels, but it's not easy," says hotel employee Khin Sandar.
'No second Thailand'
Many hope that Myanmar will not suffer the same fate as Thailand, which benefited enormously from mass tourism, but where cities are now mainly magnets for backpackers and the sex industry. They prefer to see a limited type of tourism, such as in Bhutan. “Even though we are way behind, I don't think that's a bad thing. We want to handle Myanmar with care, it is a fragile one,” said Su Su Tin, who owns a travel agency and is a member of a consortium of more than XNUMX hotels, airlines and tour operators.
In consultation with the Ministry of Tourism, it was recently decided to allow only a limited number of tourists for the time being. “We agreed that we should not start issuing entry visas on arrival just yet. That would certainly make it easier to travel to Myanmar, and then anyone could come, but we are not ready for that yet,” said Su Su Tin.
The sale and demolition of colonial buildings has also been halted until a strategy is developed, says historian Thant Myint. “Rangoon is one of the last cities in Asia where much of the XNUMXth and XNUMXth century architecture is still intact,” says Myint. “We now have a chance to avoid the worst mistakes the rest of the region has made.”
It looks as if Burma will start making a long nose at its big neighbor Thailand in about five years, especially when common sense, as I read from the statements of Su Su Tin and others, will prevail.
A year or five? You will mean twenty to thirty years and even then one must first put things in order in terms of politics and society.
The door may be ajar, but it is still a dictatorial country, where political opponents are still being eliminated.
Preserving old colonial buildings? Fine! Then there is time and space to start clearing the medieval hovels, where the common people have to live. I once crossed the border at Mae Sot, within half an hour we were back in Thailand, I don't want to stay in that misery.
Thailand has nothing to fear from Burma in the coming decades, rather I believe that Cambodia and perhaps Vietnam are / will be the competitors.
@Gringo,
I think you can't compare the development of Thailand in a touristic sense with the potential that there is in Burma. Thailand emerged in the XNUMXs, during an internet-less era. Everything goes much faster.
You are, of course, absolutely right about the fact that it is still a dictatorship, where the reins are being loosened very slowly. In addition, a very large Reconciliation Commission must be put together if this country is to become a unity, where everyone gets an equal share of the cake. There are quite a few people and mini-armies with liters of blood on their hands.
That said, 5 years is a long time, especially considering the developments that have taken place in the past year. Should the country really be opened up it will act as a magnet for tourists who long for Thailand of the 70s. Don't forget that.
In addition, Burma has hundreds of islands in the Andaman Sea, which in terms of beauty are certainly not inferior to the most beautiful islands in Thailand.
Twenty years? According to you? We'll see, but even the Burmese generals don't have that much patience.
I read a whole article about that somewhere about Burma and Tourism.
It certainly won't last 20 years. The problem is infrastructure. The roads, and other transport, hotels, etc. cannot (yet) cope with the reception of large-scale tourism, if this is all arranged, things could go very fast.
Then something went wrong.
The country is also rich in raw materials, it will not be so long before the Chinese and Japanese, as well as the Americans, are so willing to help them get rid of this, they will be able to provide the necessary capital to do this on build.
Myanmar is also cheaper to live in, so do the math.
They will indeed be there soon. But building something like that takes years and 20 years is actually not that long. The question is whether Myanmar will remain so cheap because prices will also develop.
Let's wait for the elections...
Visit Myanmar regularly every year. Nice to read that some people make the choice between “Burma” and “Myanmar” 🙂